Cardiac catheterization procedures are utilized on a frequent basis as a diagnostic procedure to evaluate a patient's coronary condition. As is known in the art, cardiac catheterization is an invasive procedure that is utilized to confirm the presence of heart disease such as but not limited to coronary artery disease and if required determine the need for further treatment thereof. It is further common during the catheterization procedure to perform interventional or therapeutic procedures at the end of the diagnostic portion of a catheterization procedure. Interventional procedures include but are not limited to balloon angioplasty and stent placements.
While the cardiac catheterization procedure is generally safe, there are risks to which the patient is exposed. During the procedure the patient is exposed to some of the following risks: perforation of blood vessel, allergic reaction to dye and bleeding proximate the puncture point. While the cardiac catheterization procedure is executed in a hospital or similar environment, the aforementioned risks and others are still a possibility for the patients. Reducing these risks for the patients is important not only for the health of the patient but for the practitioner delivering the procedure.
One issue with the delivery of cardiac catheterization procedures are the numerous types catheters and catheter procedures that are utilized. By way of example but not limitation, a typical practitioner will deliver catheterization procedures that include balloon pumps, impellas and roto-blades and other devices that can execute interventional procedures. The iterations/embodiments of the tools utilized for cardiac catheterization procedures are numerous. The quantity of the available embodiments ultimately requires that a practitioner be familiar with and trained on each and every type in order to successfully deliver the cardiac catheterization procedure. Executing procedures with intermittent exposure to the various types of catheters has shown to result in an increase of complications during the delivery of the procedure.
Accordingly, it is desirable that a cardiac catheterization training apparatus be provided so as to provide an apparatus that is operable to facilitate the training of practitioners on the numerous types of catheters and the procedures/techniques associated therewith.